Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Anniversary Trip 2016 - Day Four (Life at LeConte Lodge)

We had planned to get up early and hike to Myrtle point to see the sunrise, but when our alarm went off and the place was totally shrouded in clouds, we stayed in our warm bed until we got a "15 minutes 'till breakfast" knock on our door.

Breakfast was delicious. I opted for eggs, ham and grits (they also had pancakes and biscuits). Yum!

Yup, now I know what life looks like in the middle of a cloud! =)

We read in our cabin for a while, (and I finished reading The Giver, which I both enjoyed and was disturbed by), hoping the clouds would move on, but they weren't showing any signs of letting up, so we decided to get out and take some pictures.

We bought rain gear for this trip and ended up Loving it!!

Caleb gave Philip this tiny pink bunny for Christmas last year and Philip takes it on all his trips with him. We made sure he got in a few pictures at the top.

Some of the other guests saw a bear while we were up there, but not us (I was so disappointed)

The trails and all the world around just looked so eerily beautiful in the fog..

It's like something out of a fairy tale

Our rings on some pretty moss

So lush and green!

...and here's the "most commented on by facebook viewers" picture of our trip

So beautiful and peaceful

Pinky in what I think looks like a fairy house

This day was potentially the most relaxed and restful day of our entire marriage =)

The valley completely blanked out by clouds

A beautiful (working) loom in the office

Not sure if this is readable, but it's the lodge rates from 1945 and it cracked me up

After lunch I picked up a book from the office to read (which ended up being very strange), and tried to work on a puzzle that some others had started, but didn't make much progress. We headed back to our cabin to take a nap.

Raindrops

These pretty red berries were everywhere!

We stopped by to check out the work crew's set up at the shelter the next day - pretty slick!

We decided to hike out to Myrtle Point. We figured we wanted to see it whether or not we got a good sunrise out there

Talk about zero view. It was like we were closed in on all sides by a white wall!!

Still so great to be out there with this guy

We actually sat and chatted for most of an hour and had a wonderful time connecting and talking about where we're at and where we're going.

As we waited, the clouds would open up, give us a glimpse of the beauty beyond..and within minutes blow "closed" again... it was amazing!!

Philip at the exact same spot where I stood a few pictures back on our way up to the point (look how different it looks now!)

A view up at our cabin

Our porch again

Pinky at the front door

The dining room

(We sat with two different groups of people, both wonderful, during our time there)

After dinner, the clouds had totally cleared away, so we (along with most of the people from the lodge) hiked out to Clifftops to watch the sunset!

What a way to spend an evening...

We had prime seats!

What a gift this evening was. It was so gorgeous to watch the sunset change from minute to minute across the sky...

After the sun went down, the sky was SO clear and full of stars! We could even see several planets and the Milky Way! Wow!! It had gotten Quite cold, so I didn't stay out to enjoy it as long as Philip did. =)

Our little family

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Thank you for reading, whether you know me/us from Ontario, Michigan, Florida, Kansas, or you found us totally randomly or through another blog and just decided to check us out!

If you're looking for deep, thought provoking reading, you've come to the wrong place. If, however, you want to keep up on the lives of the five of us, and you like lots of pictures... this is the right stop! =)